Instapaper 3.0 likes Facebook and Twitter

New version of Marco Arment's 'read later' app comes packaged with social sharing tools

If you’ve ever used Instapaper even once, it’s probably one of those apps that you could never see yourself abandoning.
 
When it comes down to it, it’s about time management. No matter how little or how much you use the Internet, you’re likely always encountering cool and interesting articles, whether it’s the latest news and controversies in politics, a friend’s blog post about another friend’s band, or a Wikipedia page about dancing plagues in early modern Europe.

Unfortunately, there’s just too much awesomeness online to read all in one sitting, especially when you’re encountering these pieces while you’re supposed to be working.
 
With the click of an easily added menu bar item, Instapaper lets you save to your account the article you’re currently viewing. Later, when you’re sitting on the train or grabbing a coffee by your lonesome, just whip out your iPhone, open Instapaper and read to your heart’s content about all those raving, dancing Europeans.
 
It was always one of those dead simple, almost obligatory apps to own. And now it’s ten times powerful because it just got social.
 
Instapaper 3.0 launched Thursday, bringing a host of sharing and discovery features to what was once just a spartan document reading application.
 
“Don’t worry, it’s tasteful and optional,” promises Marco Arment, the app’s creator, anticipating user complaints about the added social capabilities.
 
The new app now features native sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinboard and Evernote, and articles being queued when read offline so that they automatically post when back online. And instead of giving stars to articles, users now ‘like’ their favorites; the distinction was made because users can now add friends on Instapaper and browse the articles they’ve liked. Friends can be found via linked Facebook, Twitter accounts, the contacts list on your phone, or email address.

Besides the added social components, Instapaper 3.0 brings a lot more to the table, like editors’ picks, better image quality, faster downloads and page loads, less space usage, and the ability to search through downloaded content.

The app costs $4.99, but it’s free to upgrade. Instapaper Free users: you don’t get to go social, sorry. But then, what better time to plop down the five bucks then now, right? For the greedy reader, it’s a must-have app.